Category Archives: Food

I have a general rule when buying groceries: the longer the shelf life, the more likely it is to be filled with no-good ingredients. Chemicals, preservatives, and artificial dyes help lengthen shelf life, but it’s certainly not lengthening yours! I’ve found that so many store-bought salad dressings are jam-packed with ingredients that I can’t even pronounce. I’ve always been a classic ranch kind of girl, but I’ve been experimenting with different dressings to help spare calories as well as mix it up for my taste buds. I researched a couple different Greek salad dressings and came up with this delicious mix that was super easy to make at home. I highly recommend it on sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers!

I’ve recently gotten quite into rolled oats; not only are they great to soak with milk and make overnight oats, but they’re also great to add into yogurts in the morning. I decided to make a bowl this morning because I wanted something tasty, filling, and, of course, healthy.

The color was quite funky, but spirulina has that effect! You could add different fruits like bananas, blueberries, or peaches, since spirulina doesn’t have a distinct taste. You could also add in agave nectar, honey, plain Greek yogurt, or peanut butter. Talk about endless possibilities! Have you ever made an oats bowl?

The only thing better than cooking up a new recipe for brunch is cooking it up with your best friend! Gina and I made Baked French Toast to celebrate Eric’s birthday, as well as mine, since we were born exactly one week apart. Eric and J were extra stuffed after eating it, so this may be an indication that Gina and I were successful! We made a few tweaks to this recipe, and it turned out great!

Let bread soak for at least two hours. The longer, the better. If you want to prepare this the night before your meal, you can cover the dish and place it in the fridge overnight.
Right before you place pan in oven, prepare topping. Slice butter into thin rectangles. Mix in sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Use your hands or back of a spoon to combine. It should be fairly smooth, with just a little bit of chunks.

Top soaked bread mixture with topping.Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Slice bananas, strawberries, peaches, etc for topping.

I absolutely love traveling, and road trips are no different for me. There’s something so exhilirating about filling your car to the brim with essentially everything you own! No baggage requirement? No need to keep fluids under 3 ounces? You’ve got me sold. Plus, you are often saving money on airfare, and you’re able to schedule your trip around our own time and make stops whenever you need them. If you’ve ever been cooped up on a 16 hour airplane flight, you know how great real life stretching is.

The only issue about road trips is food. Where should you eat? What restaurant is right off the freeway? What’s on the dollar menu? Since few people have time to sit down at a healthy restaurant or scout out a venue with good food, people often fall into the trap of scarfing down Big Macs and a Diet Coke in the car. Nothing ruins your fitness goals like eating a fatty burger every few hours.

However, it’s actually a lot easier to pack healthy foods than you think. Not only will you save money and time, you’ll be able to keep it clean and stay focused on your fitness goals. Remember to pack perishables with ice so they don’t spoil! Buy the ice the night before you leave and stash it in your freezer overnight if you are worried about time. It’s also worth investing in some good plastic containers and Tupperware for packing items that won’t fit in Zip-Loc bags.

I can’t tell you how easy it is to turn to sodas and sugary juices because they’re so easily accessible in drive-thrus. Instead, juice your favorite produce the morning of and throw it in an air-tight mason jar. I love Odwalla juice, individual Silk boxes, and Trader Joe’s “Green Plant” juice. It’s also so important to bring cases of water! They’re only $3 or $4 a case, which is the price of just two bottles in a normal drive thru.

Here’s what I brought on my 4 hour trip to Las Vegas:

Perfect Bars are just that: perfect! Peanut butter & almond butter are my favorite. They don’t need to be kept in the fridge, but taste great cold. I can’t explain to you how incredible these are. They taste like cookies, but are filled with super foods, nutrients, and vitamins. I buy mine at Sprouts and Mother’s Market for about $2.39 a bar.

My favorite fruits to snack on are apples and bananas because they’re easy to hold. I slice up my apples so that they’re easy to grab out of the Tupperware container while driving. Bananas are easy to grip, but if you happen to drop it, please don’t slip on the peel!

Slice cucumbers into pieces about 1/2 inch wide. They can be dipped in dressing or hummus, which is less messy. Fill the container with baby carrots, which are plenty sweet even by themselves.